Raiders roster cuts: 4 QBs, 2 punters highlight confusion in Oakland

On Saturday, all 32 teams in the NFL had to cut down their rosters and reach the 53-man limit imposed by the league. While each team had both easy and difficult cuts to make, some teams did a better job of rounding out their rosters.

While the Cleveland Browns made one of the odder decisions on NFL roster cuts day by cutting both veteran Shayne Graham and rookie Brandon Bogotay, leaving them with zero kickers on their roster about a week before the start of the regular season, the Raiders were right alongside them with one of the more questionable 53-man rosters in the league. Despite lacking at many other positions, the Raiders were indecisive with their decisions, as they kept four quarterbacks (Terrelle Pryor, Matt Flynn, Matt McGloin, Tyler Wilson) and two punters (Marquette King and Chris Kluwe) on their 53-man roster.

Although they eventually rectified this poor decision and indecisiveness the next day by cutting Wilson, the team’s fourth-round selection in this year’s draft, and Kluwe, the veteran and more consistent of the two punters, this odd way to manage their roster could have been handled a lot better.

Sure, the Raiders likely knew after making their initial 53-man roster that they would be looking at other players waived as potential additions to their roster. By cutting Wilson and Kluwe, the team did claim guard Antoine McClain from the Baltimore Ravens and defensive tackle Brian Sanford from the Cleveland Browns, two areas of need for Oakland. However, their unusual choice for the Saturday deadline only added more scrutiny and ridicule for a Raiders team that be confronted with many struggles this season.

As a team looking for a successful identity, the Raiders have been in dire need of positive press for a while. This Saturday snafu certainly didn’t help this cause and only added more hurdles to their mission of once again becoming a legitimate NFL franchise.

Austin Chang

Austin Chang is the Associate Editor of Sports Out West and a San Francisco Bay Area-based sports journalist. His work can also be found on Yahoo! Sports and RamsTalk. Follow him on Twitter @_austinchang.